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Times Higher Education
Nowadays it seems that the use of technology in class is inevitable, but a new study warns that using a laptop in class can significantly damage students’ academic performance. After an analysis of the grades of 5,600 students at a private US liberal arts college, authors Richard Patterson and Robert Patterson concluded that use of laptops in class significantly worsens academic performance. “Students believe that laptops will improve their productivity but the opposite occurs,” Richard Patterson told Times Higher Education.
The two academics found that students who used laptops, typically in “laptop required” or “laptop optional” classes, scored between 0.27 and 0.38 grade points lower on a four-point grade point average scale than those who took notes using pen and paper. The findings were published last month in the journal Economics of Education Review.
Source: Times Higher Education
